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Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship of anger expression with other facets of the anger construct and applies these to account for individual differences in risky driving behaviors. Anger expression as measured by the Behavioral Anger Response Questionnaire is compared to measures of hostile attitude, trait driving anger, Type-A personality, and anxiety to further evaluate the construct validity for this new measure of anger expression as it relates to anger level at large and to angry driving. Driving-related anger is then related to traffic violations and motor vehicle accidents given that anger is know to contribute to risky driving and that the resulting traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of disability and death in our society. A large sample (N = 316) of active drivers of varying ages (range = 17-67 years) filled out a questionnaire package containing measures of driving anger, hostile attitude, Type-A personality, anger expression as measured by the Behavioral Anger Response Questionnaire, demographics, and driving behaviours. Analyses were first conducted to test the nomological network of general and driving related anger variables and differentiate anger level from anger expression. Driving anger was found to be related to hostile attitude (r = .33, p